Modern computing devices often include file systems that store information items in various directories or subdirectories (e.g., folders) in a file system hierarchy. In a graphical user interface (GUI), representations of the information items (e.g., icons) can be shown in respective container objects (e.g., the desktop, folder windows) associated with a parent item of the information items to indicate the locations of the information item in the file system hierarchy.
Each container object can be associated with an appearance style (e.g., a large icon view, a small icon view, a list view, a column view, etc.). Representations of the information items contained in the container object can take on respective appearances according to the appearance style associated with the container object. When an item is moved from one container to another container having a different appearance style, or when the appearance style of a current container is modified, the appearance of the item's representation can be changed according to the current appearance style of the item's current container.
Many operating systems enable a drag and drop operation to be performed on items that are currently selected in a GUI. In the drag and drop operation, representations of the selected items can be moved (or “dragged”) in the user interface from one container object to another container object following the movement of a pointer (e.g., a mouse cursor or pointing device on a touch-sensitive surface). When the items are released (or “dropped”) over the drop zone of a desired target container, the selected items become the content items of the target container and the representations of the items appear in the target container according to the appearance style associated with the target container.